The ANC’s allies are back on side to support the party in the 2019 national election, for now.The long-awaited political council took place between the ANC and its allies — the SACP, Cosatu and the South African National Civic Organisation — over the past two days, after years of fraught ties that included calls by the allies for the removal of former president Jacob Zuma.The SACP took a decision to consider contesting elections on its own at a special congress in 2017 and went ahead with contesting by-elections in Metsimaholo later in the year.But the allies appear to have now ceased hostilities and are back on talking terms, a move bolstered by Zuma’s recall in February and the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president in December.The meeting was described as "comradely, frank and honest" by ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule. While the allies agreed to continue to back the ANC in the upcoming election, much depends on whether the alliance can be "reconfigured" to function mor...
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